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The use of fossil fuels has contributed to climate change and global warming, which has led to a growing need for renewable and ecologically friendly alternatives to these. It is accepted that renewable energy sources are the ideal option to substitute fossil fuels in the near future. Significant progress has been made to produce renewable energy sources with acceptable prices at a commercial scale, such as solar, wind, and biomass energies. This success has been due to technological advances that can use renewable energy sources effectively at lower prices. More work is needed to maximize the capacity of renewable energy sources with a focus on their dispatchability, where the function of storage is considered crucial. Furthermore, hybrid renewable energy systems are needed with good energy management to balance the various renewable energy sources’ production/consumption/storage. This work covers the progress done in the main renewable energy sources at a commercial scale, including solar, wind, biomass, and hybrid renewable energy sources. Moreover, energy management between the various renewable energy sources and storage systems is discussed. Finally, this work discusses the recent progress in green hydrogen production and fuel cells that could pave the way for commercial usage of renewable energy in a wide range of applications.

This review manuscript examines magnetic nanocatalysts and their pivotal role in forming carbon‐sulfur (C−S) and carbon‐selenium (C−Se) bonds. The study delves into the latest advancements in the synthesis, characterization, and application of magnetic nanocatalysts, highlighting their unique advantages, including enhanced catalytic activity, superior selectivity, and easy recovery through magnetic separation, which align with the principles of green chemistry. Through a critical analysis of recent research findings, this review also explores the mechanistic pathways facilitated by these nanocatalysts, offering insights into their operational efficiency and potential for recyclability. The manuscript aims not only to catalog the current achievements in this burgeoning field but also to identify challenges and propose future directions for developing more efficient, sustainable, and versatile catalytic systems for C−S and C−Se bond formation. By encompassing a broad spectrum of magnetic nanocatalysts, ranging from bare magnets to functionalized and composite materials, this review is a comprehensive resource for researchers engaged in organic synthesis, catalysis, and sustainable chemistry. This review manuscript provides an exhaustive examination of magnetic nanocatalysts and their pivotal role in the formation of carbon‐sulfur (C−S) and carbon‐selenium (C−Se) bonds. The study delves into the latest advancements in the synthesis, characterization, and application of magnetic nanocatalysts, highlighting their unique advantages, including enhanced catalytic activity, superior selectivity, and easy recovery through magnetic separation, which align with the principles of green chemistry.

In January 2016, 2057 refugees from civil war-torn Syria and Iraq, aged 18.0 to 24.9 years, were first-time entrants into the German unemployment register and thus potentially eligible for the labor market. Civil war and forced migration may affect individuals' mental health. Traumatic experiences in particular are assumed to represent a major barrier, e.g., to labor-market integration. This study aimed to screen the rates of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Former refugee studies have reported PTSD screening rates between 3% and 44%. A total of 8.5% (N = 175 of 2057) of respondents were randomly interviewed either by telephone or web-based interviews. A total of 84 respondents (48% out of 175 respondents) were screened using the Essen Trauma Inventory (ETI) based on the DSM-IV, and 91 (52%) respondents used the Short Screening Scale for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (SSS-PSD). All respondents were additionally questioned regarding psychological impairment (Symptom Checklist 10) and health status (Short Form 12). Of the respondents, 59.4% reported at least one traumatic experience. The percentage of positive PTSD screenings obtained using the ETI was 9.5% (N = 84) and 6.6% (N = 91) using the SSS-PSD. The percentage of positive PTSD screenings obtained with both screening instruments was 8% (N = 175; 95%-CI: 3.9% to 12.1%). A total of 19.4% of the subjects were above the SCL-10 cut-off for psychiatric caseness. The PTSD rate in this sample was in the average range compared to previous estimates from large samples of refugees. Psychiatric caseness was high. The results should be considered for planning labor-market integration programs and the design of supportive schemes. •PTSD screening rate in a refugee sample from the register of the German Federal Employment Services: 8%•Experience of violence and lower educational background are positively associated with PTSD.•PTSD symptom severity is negatively associated with having no relatives in Germany.•The estimated prevalence for psychiatric caseness is 19.4%.•Specific counseling, educational and job-reintegration schemes are required.

This study evaluates the structural behavior of aerated autoclave concrete (AAC) blocks laterally loaded in the in-plane direction under quasi-static loading. The study started with the evaluation of the basic physical properties of the AAC blocks, including its structural properties (individually and as part of an assembly), followed by large-scale testing of two (half-scaled) walls constructed with commercially available AAC blocks. The first wall was unreinforced, similar to the commonly used construction technique for low-rise houses where AAC blocks are utilized. The second one was internally reinforced with short dowels connecting the foundation to the walls through their lower block rows and externally reinforced with carbon-fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) sheets through the entire wall height. The reinforcement scheme was conducted in such a way that does not delay construction time. Reinforcing the wall significantly increased the strength of the wall in the in-plane direction. The reinforced wall exhibited increased initial stiffness, higher ductility, and larger energy dissipation, in addition to a change in the failure mode. The unreinforced wall failure mode was dominated by blocks sliding, while the reinforced wall failure was dominated by compressive shear failure with wall uplifting. The findings of this study can be implemented to increase the lateral strength of unreinforced new houses and can also be extended to strengthen existing houses built with unreinforced AAC blocks.

This work presents findings on utilizing the expansion stage of compressed air energy storage systems for air conditioning purposes. The proposed setup is an ancillary installation to an existing compressed air energy storage setup and is used to produce chilled water at temperatures as low as 5 °C. An experimental setup for the ancillary system has been built with appropriate telemetric devices to measure the temporal temperature variation, which consequently can be used to calculate the heat transfer and available cooling capacity. The system is compared to commercially available compression cooling air conditioners, and the potential of replacing them is promising, as one ton of conventional cooling can be replaced with a 500-L (0.5 m 3 ) air tank at 20 bar operating for an hour. More tanks can be added to extend the operational viability of the system, which is also serving the original purpose of storing energy from grid excess or from solar photovoltaic panels. The thermal management has had the added benefit of increasing the roundtrip efficiency of the storage system from 31.4 to 35.2%, along with handling a portion of the cooling load.

The comparison between crustal stress and surface strain azimuthal patterns has provided new insights into several complex tectonic settings worldwide. Here, we performed such a comparison for Egypt taking into account updated datasets of seismological and geodetic observations. In north-eastern Egypt, the stress field shows a fan-shaped azimuthal pattern with a WNW–ESE orientation on the Cairo region, which progressively rotated to NW–SE along the Gulf of Aqaba. The stress field shows a prevailing normal faulting regime, however, along the Sinai/Arabia plate boundary it coexists with a strike–slip faulting one (σ1 ≅ σ2 > σ3), while on the Gulf of Suez, it is characterized by crustal extension occurring on near-orthogonal directions (σ1 > σ2 ≅ σ3). On the Nile Delta, the maximum horizontal stress (SHmax) pattern shows scattered orientations, while on the Aswan region, it has a WNW–ESE strike with pure strike–slip features. The strain-rate field shows the largest values along the Red Sea and the Sinai/Arabia plate boundary. Crustal stretching (up to 40 nanostrain/yr) occurs on these areas with WSW–ENE and NE–SW orientations, while crustal contraction occurs on northern Nile Delta (10 nanostrain/yr) and offshore (~35 nanostrain/yr) with E–W and N–S orientations, respectively. The comparison between stress and strain orientations over the investigated area reveals that both patterns are near-parallel and driven by the same large-scale tectonic processes.

This study aims to prepare, characterize and evaluate the pharmacokinetics of liposomal donepezil HCl (LDH) dispersed into thiolated chitosan hydrogel (TCH) in rabbits. Various hydrogels including TCH were prepared, and after characterization, TCH was selected for subsequent evaluations, due to the promising results. TCH was then incorporated with LDH prepared by reverse phase evaporation method. The hydrogel was characterized using scanning electron microscope, dialysis membrane technique, and ultra-performance liquid chromatography methods. The optimized resultant was then evaluated in terms of pharmacokinetics in an in vivo environment. The mean size of LDH and drug entrapment efficiency were 438.7 ± 28.3 nm and 62.5% ± 0.6, respectively. The controlled drug release pattern results showed that the half-life of the loaded drug was approximately 3.5 h. Liposomal hydrogel and free liposomes were more stable at 4 °C compared to those in 20 °C. The pharmacokinetics study in the rabbit showed that the optimized hydrogel increased the mean peak drug concentration and area under the curve by 46% and 39%, respectively, through nasal route compared to the oral tablets of DH. Moreover, intranasal delivery of DH through liposomal hydrogel increased the mean brain content of the drug by 107% compared to the oral DH tablets. The results suggested that liposomes dispersed into TCH is a promising device for the nasal delivery of DH and can be considered for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease.

Myrtus communis L. (Family: Myrtaceae) is naturally found in the western part of Asia, Southern Europe, and North Africa. It has been reportedly applied in pharmaceutical industry, traditional medicine, cosmetics, spices, and food. Pubmed, Google scholar, Web of Science, and Scopus were utilized to seek out relevant content concerning the therapeutic potential of M. communis . Subsequently, we conducted a review to identity noteworthy updates pertaining to M. communis . Myrtle berries, leaves, seeds, and essential oils are natural sources of several nutrients and bioactive compounds with marked health effects. The chemical analysis showed that M. communis contained oils, alkaloids, flavonoids, phenolics, coumarins, saponosides, tannins, quinines, and anthraquinones. A pharmacological investigation revealed that M. communis possessed anti-inflammatory, analgesic, antimicrobial, antiparasitic, antioxidant, antidiabetic, anticancer, antimutagenic, immunomodulatory, dermatological, cardiovascular, central nervous system, and gastrointestinal protective effects, among numerous other biological effects. This current review focused on the biochemical, pharmacological, therapeutic effects, and various biological activities of different parts of M. communis . It signifies that M. communis is a therapeutic plant with numerous applications in medicine and could be used as a drug isolate based on its safety and effectiveness.

Water is becoming one of the most critical strategic challenges for any country. Egypt has numerous water resources, the most notable being the Nile River. Egypt must seek alternative resources because the development of an Ethiopian dam has reduced the Nile's water flow. Underground water is a source of available water. Therefore, it is necessary to understand the variables governing the flow of subsurface water in Egypt. The primary objective of this study is to examine the hydrological water flow along the Nile Valley between southern Cairo and Beni Suef, Egypt. Applying integrated geophysical and geodetic methods can improve our understanding of the hydrological regime. Fault and stress regimes have a direct effect on underground water flow. Aeromagnetic data were used to determine the main faults in the study area, and four geoelectrical long profiles were measured crossing the Nile Valley. Global navigation satellite system (GNSS) measurements observed along geodetic points covered the study area. The magnetic results show that two faults hit the area, both of which have a pronounced magnetic pattern in the ENE–WSW direction, and two faults in the NW–SE direction. For the geoelectrical results, we observed that the second geoelectrical unit represents the main groundwater aquifer in this region, and it is regulated in the NW–SE direction. The obtained GNSS results demonstrate that compression forces in the south and north influence the hydrological system in the Nile Valley. Faults detected from geological maps and magnetic observations are also influenced by compression forces from the north and south, while the middle section displays tension forces. This geodynamic regime causes the water to flow toward the Nile Valley in the Southwestern of the study regions, whereas water flows outside the Nile Valley in the northeastern part.

N -aryl amides hold significant importance in organic chemistry due to their widespread presence in pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, and various bioactive compounds. As a result, catalysts and preparation methodologies for amide derivatives have long been a target of active investigation of interest. In the current work, a simple and accessible route was adopted for preparation of a magnetic catalyst [Fe 3 O 4 @SiO 2 -DHB/DI(S-NH)-Pd (0)] and then its catalysis in three-component amide synthesis via carbonylation reaction between aryl iodides and amines was examined. In experiments, its efficiency in producing a range of amides with high yields in a short and under mild conditions was unequivocally confirmed, and its efficiency in producing a range of amides with high yields in a short and under mild conditions was confirmed unequivocally through experiments. High yields of the desired compound ease in catalyst separation, high reusability of catalysts, mild reaction conditions, ease in accommodation of a range of substrates, and a thorough analysis for determination of the catalyst and produced compounds for characterization and purification have been taken as key features of this work. Graphical Abstract